Earth anchor



Feb. 28, 1961 w. J. CORDES EARTH ANCHOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 22,1955 f/GJ INVENTOR. WILL/AM J CORDES Feb. 28, 1961 w. J. CORDES EARTHANCHOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 22, 1955 IN VEN TOR. VV/LL/AM JCORDES ATTORNEYS United States Patent EARTH ANCHOR William J. Cordes,330 F St., Bakersfield, Calif.

Filed July 22, 1955, Ser. No. 523,666

6 Claims. (Cl. 189-90) This invention relates to earth anchors, and moreparticularly to a retrievable earth anchor adapted primarily to betemporarily used for the guying of such as oil well derricks, radio andtelevision transmitter towers, and the like.

An object of the invention is to provide an earth anchor which willmaintain its anchoring position within a back-filled ground hole againsta great amount of centrally applied force tending to raise it, but whichmay be relatively readily retrieved, or pulled free, by a lifting forcenoncentrally applied to it.

A further object of the invention is to provide an earth anchor having aprimary, or anchoring, cable and a secondary, or retriever cable, withsaid cables having points of attachment to the anchor such that saidanchor will maintain its position within a back-filled ground hole whena high degree of pulling force is applied to said anchoring cable, andsuch that said achor may be readily pulled out of said hole by a pullingforce applied to said retriever cable.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing description taken in conjunction with the drawings formingpart of this specification, and in which:

Fig. l is an end view in elevation of the earth anchor;

Fig. 2 is a side view in elevation of the earth anchor;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the anchor;

Fig. 4 is a view in elevation showing the achor being lowered into aground hole specially formed to receive it; and

Fig. 5 is a view in elevation showing the anchor during the course ofbeing retrieved.

With reference to the drawings, the anchor consists of a steel platehaving straight sides 12 and rounded ends 14, a bail-like rod 16 ofinverted V-shape having its ends 18 welded to plate 10, an anchoringcable 21 having a clevis 22 secured thereto, a pin 24 removably attachedto the clevis 22, as by a cotter pin 26, and securing the clevis to rod16, an eye 28 of inverted U-shape welded to plate 10, a retriever cable30 having a clevis 32 secured thereto, and a pin 34 removably attachedto the clevis 32, as by a cotter pin 36, and securing said clevis to eye28. An a-rcuate rod piece 38, having its ends welded to rod 16, enclosespin 24, thereby serving to centrally position the cable 20 with respectto plate 10. A vertically disposed rod 40, having its ends welded to rodpiece 38 and plate 10, serves as a reinforcement strut therebetween.

The plate 10 is slightly cambered, i.e. the ends 14 thereof are disposedat a higher level than the mid-portion thereof. With a plate of some 46inches in length, the ends 14 are disposed approximately 1 inch abovethe level of the transverse center line of the plate. It will also benoted that the eye 28 is disposed adjacent one side of one of the ends14, and that, with reference to Fig. 3, it is angularly disposed withrespect to the cable tie rod 16.

A ground hole 42 is bored to receive the anchor. This 2,973,065 PatentedFeb. 28, 1961 the plate 10 on the bottom of the hole in the positionalattitude which the anchor has in Fig. 2. The hole is then back filledand the loose earth is tamped down.

Three or more of these earth anchors are usually employed for the guyingof an oil derrick, tower, or the like, with the achoring cables 20 beingattached to the particular structure to be guyed.

The vertical component of the guying load on a cable 29 tends to pullthe anchor upwardly out of the hole 42, but this force is effectivelyresisted by the anchor, up to the failure point of one of the elementsof the anchor and cable assembly, by the fact that the back-filled earthtends to be wedged by the plate 10 against the two upwardly and inwardlydirected side walls of hole 42. The camber of plate 10 is a furtherfactor which enhances the holding power of the anchor.

When it is desired to remove the earth anchor, this is readily done,without removing the back fill from hole 42, by first disconnectingcable 20 from the structure being guyed and by then connecting anA-frame, or crane, or the ilke, to the retriever cable 30. The forceapplied to this cable acting through the point of attachment of thecable with plate 10 moves the cable-connected end of the plate upwardlyand at the same time the plate is tilted. This decreases the earthholding pressure applied to the plate, and the end result is that theplate is moved end-wise and edge-wise in a knifing action upwardlythrough the back fill and out of the hole.

While a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown anddescribed, it is to be understood that all substantial equivalentsthereof are within the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. An earth anchor adapted to be disposed within a back-filled groundhole comprising an elongated plate having ends and sides, a cablepivotally connected to said plate substantially centrally thereof and asecond cable having an ofi-center permanent and pivotal connection withsaid plate adjacent one end and one side thereof and so positioned thatwhen an upward pulling force is applied to said second cable said platewill tend to move end-wise and edge-wise through the back-fill of theground hole.

2. An earth anchor comprising an elongated plate having straight sidesand rounded ends, a first cable, means forming a pivotal connectionbetween said cable and approximately the mid-point of said plate, asecond cable, and means forming a permanent and pivotal connectionbetween said second cable and said plate at a point adjacent one of saidsides and one of said ends.

3. An earth anchor as set forth in claim 2, said plate being slightlycam-bered so that said ends of said plate are disposed above thetransverse median line thereof.

4. In combination, a ground hole frusto-conical in profile, an elongatedplate having end edges and side edges disposed at the bottom of saidhole, a first cable and means forming a connection between said cableand approximately the mid-point of said plate, a second cable, meansforming an off-center connection between said second cable and saidplate adjacent an end edge and a side edge of said plate, such that whenan upward pulling force is applied to said second cable said plate willtend to move end-wise and edge-wise upwardly out of said hole, andback-fill within said hole.

5. The combination set forth in claim 4, said plate being slightlycambered so that the ends thereof are disposed above the transversemedian line thereof.

6. A retrievable earth anchor comprising a plate adapted to behorizontally disposed Within the ground, said plate having side edgesand end edges and being longer than it is wide, first means extendingupwardly from said plate adapted to be attached to an aboveground objectto be anchored, said means being connected to said plate at a pointdisposed substantially equidistantly between said side edges and betweensaid end edges, and second means extending upwardly from said plate toabove-ground level whereby said plate may be pulled upwardly out of theground when said first 4 means is not attached to an object to beanchored, said second means being permanently and pivotally connected tosaid plate at a point disposed closely adjacent one of said end edgesand disposed substantially closer to one of said side edges than to theother, said point of connection between said plate and second meansbeing so located that when an upward pulling force is applied to saidsecond means said plate will tend to tilt to dispose the side edge whichis closer to said second means at a higher level than the other sideedge and to dispose the end edge which is adjacent said second means ata higher level than the other end edge.

Great Britain May 23, 1891 Norway Nov. 6, 1905

